Page:Siamese ghostlore - Irwin - 1907.pdf/6

 decapitated by order of the king, or those who die of cholera, do not give rise to "pi tai hong" of sufficient strength to provide "pi prai." The "pi prai" itself does not possess any power which all resides in the person of its owner. There would seem to be many kinds of "pi prai," and their properties seem similar to those of the "pi pawp" who will be mentioned later on. A "pi prai " acting under orders can enter, and possess a human being, but several kinds of "pi" seem to have this power. If a person is possessed it may not therefore necessarily be by a "pi prai." It may be interesting here to give an account of an exorcising ceremony which actually took place in a case where a man was said to be possessed, and was certainly not in his right mind.

A certain official in a government department, about two hours after eating his evening meal, arose and began talking wildly and nonsensically, threatening to pull the house down, and generally behaving like a lunatic. His friends tried to calm him, but at last seeing plainly that an evil "pi" had entered into him, they proceeded to call in a witch doctor to drive away the demon. The doctor took an ordinary iron nail, and pressed the point of it very lightly down on the upper part of the last joint of one of the patient's big toes. The afflicted man, who was being held by his friends, instantly howled as if in pain, as though his toe was being pierced through. In reality the point of the nail hardly made an impression on the skin. The doctor then seized the toe, and squeezed it hard with the intention of forcing forth the "pi" through the hole supposed to have been made by the nail. He then took the nail, and drove it into a piece of wood in entering which it was supposed to pass through the body of the demon, and thus cause it to be destroyed, or to enter into the nail. The latter was then hurled far away. Within fifteen minutes of this ceremony the patient completely recovered his senses and normal condition. The facts of the man going out of his mind, and of what the doctor did to him can be substantiated by witnesses known to the writer. The "pi kuman" (ผีกุมาร) is the spirit of an infant who dies in the womb, or shortly — in perhaps a day or two — after birth. I£ precautions are not taken to bury such a child in a proper manner